Friday, January 7, 2011

A list of the places I've graced, the fare there consumed, and the motives for doing so on the Jan. 6, 2011

Chez Linda, Quiche

She's my mother. She makes a mean spinach quiche. What more can I say?

Big Wong, Hot (oh so very hot!) and Sour Soup. BBQ'd Duck & Veggies

Zagat's gives it a 22 for food, a 5 for decor, and an 11 for service. It's a hole-in-the-wall refuge for those poor saps with Jury Duty on their lunch break. Soup was served in a bowl which favored the proportions of a bird bath. Duck and veggies were phenomenal. Looking my victim's siblings in the eye as I ate their brother was a plus.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

As far as the Incarnation is concerned, I believe firmly in it…Eternity steps into Time, and Time loses itself in Eternity. Hence Jesus, in the eyes of God, a Man, and, in the eyes of men a God. It’s sublimely simple: a transcendental soap opera going on century after century in which there have been endless variations in the script, in the music, in the dialogue, but in which one thing remains constant—the central figure, Jesus. ~Malcolm Muggeridge

15 Why We Are We Here/ Ticket to Heaven.......Tim Keller feat. Dire Straits

16 Weapon of Prayer.........The Notting Hillbillies

17 Wake Me Up On Judgment Day........Steve Winwood

Epilogue—“Sounds Like the Mormon Tubercular Choir”

18 30,000 Pounds of Bananas (Live).......Harry Chapin

In celebrating Christmas, the Incarnation, we celebrate the arrival of Immanuel, God With Us. With that in mind, we realize Christmas is a story of relationships. In fact, when rightly viewed, all redemptive history is the story of relationships. The plot goes like this: Relationships Forged, Forsaken, Forgotten, and Fixed. This alliterative group formed the framework out of which the following playlist developed.

We see in the Prologue how it ought to be, a community of people, like spokes in a wheel, rightly related to one another because of their right relationship to the Hub of Hubs, God.

Yet, Chapter One casts a stark contrast. No longer bound by a right relationship, this motley crew claims to be beholden to “Nuthin’ & Nobody.” Arrogance, Discontent, and Dishonesty are the means, while self-indulgence is the chief end.

Chapter Two considers the social costs. The tear from God has spread to a rift within fabric of humanity. Though the Teleological Barbershop calls for all who have ears to hear, the hope for something bigger goes unnoticed as The Destroyers return for a riotous encore. Alone, ashamed, and destitute, the singer of A Vegas Story recognizes that on his own he is “dead.” And with this realization, he cries out in the final verse, “Oh Lord my soul redeem!”

In the Advent Season, the Lost Dogs’ longing is our own. With Christmas, we celebrate God’s answer. The otherworldly opening of Chapter Three is quite apropos as that is exactly where our salvation needs to originate—from afar. Riding the coattails of the angels, The Band delivers a carol of celestial brilliance. Then Muggeridge’s quip “sublimely simple” finds an illustration in Keller’s monologue, with the ambient support of Dire Straits. What remains then, was best put forth by Alexander Dumas’ final words in The Count of Monte Cristo, "Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words—Wait and hope."

But what does it all mean? Why an Epilogue? The Incarnation led to the act by which God restored and reinstated a community. Yet, in many ways we still sound like the “Mormon Tubercular Choir” (which is less a jab at residents of Utah, and more a reference to pulmonary illness). But despite being cosmically tone deaf, God doesn’t hear our weak, flat, sorry howling. Instead, our strains find their tune in the powerful voice of the only God who ever dared to be with us, Our Immanuel. Merry Christmas.